March Spring Cleaning: Beginner Series Updates and Blog Refresh

Håfa Adai everyone, yan Biba Mes Chamoru! I just wanted to share a few quick updates: this March, I’m doing a little “spring cleaning” on the blog! You might notice some changes: I’m tightening up post titles, standardizing beginner lesson formats, adding clearer front-and-back navigation at the bottom of lessons to make the learning path easier to follow, and updating older lessons so they match the style and clarity of our current content. I also realized that some of our first lessons are missing audio—sorry about that! We’re recording those drills and will have them up soon. On top of that, we’re designing a new landing page to make it easier to find your way around the site. All of this is part of our focus this month on completing the full beginner series, so if things look a little different as you browse, now you know why.

Thanks for following along, and happy studying! See you in the next lesson!

How to Say “Yours” and “Mine” in Chamorro – Talking In General About What Belongs to You

In this fifth and final beginner lesson on Chamorro classifiers, we’ll learn how to use iyo, which is used to express general ideas of what belongs to us, such as “mine” or “yours”. It’s also often used to indicate possession of non-Chamorro words. As always, this post includes explanatory notes, practice sentences, English translations, and Chamorro audio recordings by Jay Che’le to support your learning. Happy studying!

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Mungnga Masångan by Toni Quitugua – Chamorro Lyrics and English Translation

Last Saturday, Jay led the Praktikan Pupuengi group through listening to and transcribing the love song Mungnga Masångan by Toni Quitugua. This song has long been in rotation on Jay’s Chamorro music playlist, so it felt like a full-circle moment to hear the practice group working through the lyrics together. It’s a great song for beginners—the pacing is slow and the lyrics use simple but emotional language. As always, this post includes Chamorro lyrics, an English translation and language notes. Happy listening!

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How to Say “My Dog” in Chamorro – Talking About Your Pets

In this lesson, you’ll learn Chamorro patterns for talking about your animals and pets in Chamorro using the special classifier ga’-. By the end, you’ll be able to say phrases like “my dog,” “your cat,” and “Juan’s dog”, and be able to recognize these phrases when they are used in speech. As always, we’ve included Chamorro practice sentences, English translations, and Chamorro audio recordings by Jay Che’le to support your learning. Happy studying!

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How to Say “My Water” in Chamorro – Talking About Your Beverages

In this lesson, you’ll learn how to talk about drinks that belong to you and others by using a special pattern that’s just for beverages. By the end of the lesson, you’ll be able to say phrases like “my coffee,” “Juan’s drink,” and “Maria’s water” with confidence, and start to recognize this pattern naturally in conversation or writing. As always, this post includes explanatory notes, practice sentences, English translations, and Chamorro audio recordings by Jay Che’le. Happy studying!

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